How to Export Your Google Calendar to a File

Exporting your Google Calendar to a file gives you a portable backup of your events as standard .ics (iCal) files — useful for migrating to another service, archiving, or moving events between calendars. Google packages the export as a .zip containing one .ics per calendar. This guide covers exporting everything and exporting just one calendar.

What the export contains

When you export, Google produces a single .zip file. Inside are separate .ics files, one for each calendar you own. Each .ics is a plain-text iCal file that other calendar apps can read and import.

Exporting is a web-only action — the Google Calendar mobile app has no export option.

Export all your calendars

1. Open Google Calendar on a computer.
2. Click the gear icon → Settings.
3. In the left menu, click Import & export.
4. Under the Export section, click Export.
5. A .zip downloads to your computer.
6. Unzip it to find one .ics file per calendar.

This export covers the calendars you own. Calendars merely shared with you generally aren't included in your export.

Export a single calendar

Google's main export button bundles all your calendars, but you can get just one calendar's .ics two ways:

Option A — export all, then keep one file:

1. Follow the steps above to download the .zip.
2. Unzip it and keep only the .ics named for the calendar you want.

Option B — grab a single calendar's feed:

1. In the sidebar, hover the calendar → three-dot menu → Settings and sharing.
2. Scroll to Integrate calendar.
3. Use the iCal-format address to capture that one calendar's data. See how to find a public .ics URL for which link to use and the privacy caveats.

Option A is simplest for a clean one-time file; Option B is better if you want a link that stays current.

Export vs. subscribe vs. import

It's easy to confuse these. Here's the difference:

A file export is a frozen snapshot — it won't update after you download it.

What to do with the exported file

• Back it up. Store the .zip somewhere safe; it's a full record of your events at that moment.
• Migrate. Import the .ics into another calendar app, or back into a different Google Calendar — see how to combine two calendars.
• Move events between your own calendars. Import a specific .ics and choose a destination calendar.

Tips and limits

• Recurring events export as a single recurring rule, which keeps the file compact.
• Attachments aren't embedded; the .ics references events, not Drive files.
• Re-importing the same file twice creates duplicates — there's no deduplication.
• Export periodically if you rely on it for backups; the file is only as current as the day you made it.

If you'd rather keep a living copy across services instead of static files, nocal brings your Google and Outlook calendars into one continuously synced timeline — see how.